The Tennessee Senate passed a bill on Friday that would ban teachers from discussing homosexuality. (Fuse/Getty)

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill on Friday that would bar teachers from discussing homosexuality with elementary and middle school students.

Under the legislation, dubbed by critics as the "don't say gay" bill, any instruction in public classrooms will be "limited exclusively to age-appropriate natural human reproduction science."

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Republican Stacey Campfield, the bill's sponsor, says "homosexuals don't naturally reproduce" and has argued families should decide when its appropriate to talk with their children about homosexuality.

But gay rights activists are blasting the legislation, which passed 6-3, as a form of discrimination.

It "limits what teachers and students are able to discuss in the classroom," Ben Byers of the Tennessee Equality Project told LBGTQ Nation. "It means they can't talk about gay issues or sexuality even with students who may be gay or have gay family."

It's unlikely that the bill will be taken up by the House before lawmakers adjourn this spring, but Campfield said he would push it forward in 2012.

The bill, which was approved 19-11, passed the same day as Gallup released a poll revealing that American attitudes towards homosexuality are changing.

For the first time in Gallup polling history, the majority of Americans—53% believe same-sex marriage should be legal.

Passage of the bill would make Tennessee the first state to enact such legislation.

Initially, the bill read that no students will "provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality." Campfield said some of his colleagues were uncomfortable the language.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat," Campfield said after the legislation passed. "I got what I wanted."